Our Musicians

Beautiful music creates another dimension that will enhance your event. Words cannot express the feelings your guests will experience as the musicians in our ensembles play the notes and let the music unfold. Our primary ensemble is the trio of flute, violin, and cello. The repertoire is rich and varied for this popular instrumentation.

Julie Diamond

Julie Diamond is a private flute teacher and freelance performer in the Charleston area. She has played with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and local chamber music groups. She has a large private flute studio and is in demand as an adjudicator for various competitions as well as for audition preparation. She holds a bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech where she studied Finance and flute performance. She has worked closely with many event planners in the Charleston area over the twenty years that she has been coordinating the music for both private ad corporate events.

Rex Conner

Rex Conner maintains a busy teaching studio and frequently plays with the Charleston Symphony. As a conductor, Rex has led the Siouxland Youth Orchestra, the Morningside College College Orchestra, the Southcoast Symphony and the Charleston Symphony Youth Orchestra. He has taught on the faculties of Morningside College, Idaho State University, West Virginia University and Australia"s Queensland Conservatory of Music. His orchestral positions have included the Columbus Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, and Concertmaster of the Cincinnati Ballet. Rex holds degrees in violin performance from the University of Kentucky and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Greg Homza

Greg Homza returned to South Carolina in August 2004, after fifteenyears living in Florida and Indiana. He began his cello studies in Columbia, and went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree in cello performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Greg stayed at IU to complete his Master’s degree – in organ performance. He is also an accomplished organist and choral conductor, and is Director of Music at The Church of Saint John the Beloved in Summerville. In addition to his church responsibilities, Greg is active as a cellist throughout the Lowcountry. He plays regularly with several chamber ensembles, and is a frequent substitute musician with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Greg and his wife, soprano Leah Papay, are ardent vegetarians and recyclers, as well as craft beer enthusiasts.

Mary Taylor

Mary Taylor is a violinist and Irish fiddler who has played with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra as well as orchestras in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Georgia, Austria and Italy. As an Irish fiddler she has been a member of the Hungry Monks and has collaborated and performed with Liz Carrol, John Doyle, Abby Newton and Kim Robertson. She has recorded most recently with these artists on the MSR Classics Label, a disctitled "Sing We Now of Christmas", which brings together the classical and folk genres in a very unique fashion.

Susan Sievert Messersmith

Susan Sievert Messersmith was a full-time member of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra for 14 years. She is a faculty member at Charleston Southern University, teaching trumpet and brass choir, and is a very active freelance chamber and wedding musician in the Charleston area. Susan has performed with orchestras in Jacksonville, Roanoke, San Antonio, and Phoenix. She performs with the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, the Wintergreen Festival, and the Symphonic Voyages Orchestra. Susan holds degrees in Trumpet Performance from Baldwin-Wallace College and the Eastman School of Music, and did additional post-graduate study at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Carol Beyer

Carol Beyer, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, received a BM from Baldwin-Wallce College and an MM from USC Columbia. She has performed with symphonies in Charleston, Savannah, Columbia, Myrtle Beach and Florence and has frequently performed in chamber music ensembles. She currently plays cello with the Beaufort Orchestra and is a piano staffccompanist for the voice department at the College of Charleston.

Jessica Hull-Dambaugh

Jessica Hull-Dambaugh is currently the Principal Flutist of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, a position she has held since 2004. In addition, she spends her summers playing Flute and Piccolo with the Central City Opera Orchestra in Colorado. She has most recently appeared as a soloist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and was a featured artist in the 2009 Piccolo Spoleto Festival as part of their Spotlight concert series. Jessica has toured extensively throughout China, Europe, the Netherlands, South America, and Latin America and has attended the acclaimed Schleswig-Holstein Orchestral Academy in Germany, the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas Orchestral Training Institute. She holds degrees from the Crane School of Music at SUNYPotsdam and Carnegie Mellon University, where she was a student of Jeanne Baxtresser. Prior to her move to Charleston, Jessica held the position of Principal Flute with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra.

Norbert Lewandowski

Norbert Lewandowski was born in Milwaukee, WI and began cello studies at the age of 13. He holds a Master’s degree in performance andliterature from the Eastman School of Music and currently resides in Charleston, SC where he is the principal cellist of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Prior to his position in Charleston Norbert performed as a member of the Rochester and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestras, the Minnesota Opera, and the chamber music festival inTaos, New Mexico. He has also been featured as a soloist on numerous occasions including past performances with the New World Symphony, the South Carolina Philharmonic, and the National Repertory Orchestra. Norbert's extensive experience with new music includes a wide array of performances and recordings with the groups Alarm Will Sound and BraveNew Works, and was highlighted in early 2008 by an appointment as cellist of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. Norbert's cello was made by Emil Hjorth in Copenhagen, 1890, and is on a generous loan from the Virtu Foundation in Charlottesville, VA.